Chances
by BlackbAngeL
Summary: 3rd instalment in the 'Apocalypse' series. Companion to 'Battlegrounds' and 'What's the point'. Faith's POV.


**Disclaimer:** Nothing's changed, they're still He-who-must-not-be-named's property. The day they finally become mine, you'll be the first ones to know!

**Author:** BlackbAngeL

**Summary:** 3rd instalment in the 'Apocalypse' series, sequel to 'Battlegrounds'. It's Faith's POV.

**Note:** Thanks to all the reviewers of 'Battlegrounds'!! Uskohakuchan and az2mom, for some reason, I couldn't reply to your reviews… So, I'm gonna do it here:

- Uskohakuchan, there will probably be a battle scene in a future story.

- Az2mom, thanks for the ideas, and you're right, more description would be good… I'm gonna start here, with Faith, and try to give more explanations.

o o o o o o o

This is a mess. A big, fucking, incredible mess.

I'm not really clear on what the big guy did to turn the world upside down like this, but boy, it must have been something.

When I got B's message, a few weeks ago, telling me to turn my TV on and watch the news, I would never have imagined something like that. L.A looked like a vision taken from some of my worst nightmares… According to the reporter, the city was completely blacked-out, and you could see smoke and flames behind him. Gangs… I wonder if anybody out there bought that one.

We panicked. Seriously. We called a big meeting, with the SITs, the Scoobs - minus Red who's still MIA, the Watchers… the whole nine yards.

And nobody in our happy little bunch of so-called fighters accepted to come with us and kick some ass in the City of Angel. Giles said we weren't to get involved in anything Wolfram and Hart had started, and everybody just nodded their heads in front of so much wisdom… The look on Buffy's face, I swear… She was ready to explode. I was almost expecting Andrew to wet his pants.

B and I… well, let's just say, we don't have much in common. Hell, usually, we barely manage to tolerate each other. But this?

At least on this we agreed… even if it was for different reasons. I wanted to go there to help Angel. Seriously, that guy has an incredible gift to put his unlife in worlds of trouble, half the time not even on purpose… and besides, well… I owe him. Big time.

B was just pretending that she wanted to go there only to try and save the world. Yeah… sure. I may not be her best friend, but I'm not stupid, and I'm definitely not that blind. But I humoured her… I really didn't need her to go all proud and outraged on me.

We got there, and it took us a hell of long time… weeks trying to avoid the thousands of policemen guarding every highway, every train station, airport… The country had been on alert since the L.A events had started, and we had had to land on the East coast. We were forced to rent a car for the rest of what would become a not so funny road-trip. I could have been caught, and we couldn't afford to take the time to break me out of a police station, or beat the crap out of the guys who would inevitably come after us.

Three slayers joined us. Two of them, Rona and Lauren, we had managed to reach and convince; the third one, Sylvia, we just met in Salt Lake City and took with us.

We found Mr Broody after two days in L.A. I thought for a moment that B was gonna faint from relief, seriously.

We've been there for a few weeks now… and the world around us looks like it's been sucked into hell. Or maybe hell has been sucked into the world, I'm not sure, but the result is pretty much the same… The sun hasn't showed its shiny little head for days, the dust and smoke is too thick. Sometimes, we can't even breathe properly when we're outside. The pavements are covered with corpses, I don't even wanna know how many, or who, or what. There's only so much an ex-murderer can bear, you know?

The air is hot, and heavy… It feels like the sky is slowly falling, and trying to swallow us. I'm not sure it makes any kind of sense, but I can't find any other words. I'm not sure there actually are words to describe that kind situation, of feeling…

But we deal.

It's not exactly like we have a choice anyway… We're kind of the last thing standing between the world and its end… between life and death. Or so we say, when we start to lose hope. I'm not really sure we're that useful, if you wanna know the truth. Actually, I think the fight is the last thing that stands between us and insanity. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we know what we do is pointless. But we can't stop fighting… it's what we are, what we do. Take that away, and what's left? Not much… Just shells.

We got into one hell of a fight yesterday. Usually, we just meet a couple of demons at once, nothing we can't handle… Hey, five hot chicks with superpowers, and one hunk of a vamp with a soul, that's the recipe for a pretty good team. But last night… We didn't see it coming.

I guess our optimistic 'keep on fighting' attitude pissed someone off up there… or down there, wherever hell is. They must have decided that we needed to be taken care of, so they sent a little army to get rid of us. A big, ugly, and heavily armed army. We fought for hours on end… Kick, duck, punch, slice… I lost count after the fifteen first demons. And as if it wasn't hard enough, it started to rain halfway through the battle. Is that some kind of stupid cosmic rule? Something like 'The end is coming, and so are those damn droplets that'll make you trip on your feet and conveniently fall on your enemy's sword'… Anyway, we finally won. Bruised and battered, but victorious, that's us. We almost lost Lauren, but she's a tough girl, she'll get better.

Rona and Sylvia also made it through, and you know, it makes me kinda proud. I mean, we trained those girls, we taught them how to fight, how to survive… And we did a good job. Who knew we could do that, uh?

As for the two lovebirds, well, they're off somewhere in the building, licking their wounds… probably literally, if what I think I unfortunately witnessed the other night on the roof is any indication. They didn't say anything, or show anything, but come on… it took one look at Buffy, and even the girls figured it out. She's glowing, and I swear, in that post-apocalyptic landscape it seems almost obscene. Way to go, Buff…

Well, at least, one of us got lucky. Or, two of us, actually, if you count the big A… there's definitely less brooding and more attempts at smiling than usual, these days.

Life's unfair.

What's really good in all this is that I won my bet. Lauren and Rona just wouldn't believe it would happen when I told them… Actually, our supercouple got down and dirty two days earlier than I had foreseen… but the two next times we find a bathroom, I get to be the one who takes the first shower. Hot water has become our money, dollars don't really mean anything but shit anymore.

I'm not really sure of what we're doing. Where we're heading, what's next for us… Are we ever gonna win? Is the world ever gonna be the same? At one point in my life, this mess would have been my own twisted version of Heaven. All the blood, the dirt, the deaths… It would have fitted what was going on in my head.

Yeah, I know, fucked up… it was my middle name.

But now, when I see what our lives have become, I feel like somebody's twisting a knife in my gut. And believe me, I should know how that feels.

I guess it's true what they say. People change, and we all get a second chance.

Will the world get its own?

I hope so… because, B, Angel, and I? Between the three of us, we got more chances than we could have hoped for; looks like we finally ran out of those. And if we don't get through this, I'd like to know that everything will be okay once we bite the dust. That somebody else's second chance will save them all.

But let's not go over-dramatic here… I'll leave that to B, if you don't mind. One drama-queen is more than enough. We're not dead yet, and I intend to keep our little team alive and kicking as long as possible.

So, we'll heal.

Hopefully, the rest of what was once our very bigger team will come to their senses and get their asses in California to back us up. Maybe if Red comes back from wherever she went on her really ill-timed vacation, she'll make them realize that the time has come to stop being jerks and start acting like the heroes they like to believe they are.

And if they don't, well…

We'll deal. Whatever happens, somehow, I know…

Everything will be five by five.

How do I know this? I don't. But in my life, I lost everything, even things I didn't know I had, or things I could have had if I had handled my life differently.

But there's one thing I never even thought I had, and that I discovered only a little while ago, in the middle of this insanity… Something strange, new, and kinda ironic when you think about it…

Even kinda ridiculous, if you ask me… and terribly cheesy. I'll never say it out loud, because it'll probably get me weird looks and one whole bucket load of laughs from the rest of the gang. Besides, I have a rep you know, I wouldn't want people to think I'm getting softer.

And yet.

I don't know in what, or who, the future or us, but…

I have faith.

o o o o o o o

The End

So? What do you think? I'm not really used to Faith-talk, so, tell me if it's awful…

And I know, the last line? Cheesier than anything I've ever done, but I couldn't help it. Lol;)


End file.
